Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1887-08-12

est dissatisfaction is the advance !
in water rates and the discovery |
that the water accounts are in a
confused condition, giving rise to
the conviction that there is crook
edness in that department. Then
the Commissioners have promul-
gated new and unnecessary city |
ordinances, the enforcement of
Which are inconvenient and vexa-
tious to the citizens, besides, being
burdensome to the poorer class OF
people. The charges against the
Commissioners are before the Pres
ident and his action is awaited with
much interest.
The scales are beginning to fall
from the wondering eyes Of the
civil.service reformers, and many
Of these goOdly men now sadly
realize that they have been mis-
guided into believing that the mere
shadow of reform was its sub
stance.
Mr.. Geo. VIM. Curtis, the Grand
Mogul of the Mugwumps, for
moment shakes of the gloom and
grief that enshrouds him, to con-
fess his disappointment at the I'M
toward result of his experiment
with Nasts democratic tiger" yet,
like the true devotee that he is, he
still clings to Cleveland, his fallen
idol, with the consoling reflection
that it might have been worse!
Mr.. Curtis finds that the civil-ser-
vice act applies to about $4,000 Of
the $4,000 Federal offices; that
there are some $4,000 leading Of
fees, with patronage to dispense,
and that in the twenty-nine months
of Cleveland's Administration he
had appointed $4,000 Democrats in
these places record that tells its
own story.
Dir. Kepler, the gifted artist of
"Puck,r has been in Washington
this week, it is said with the avow-
ed object of Strengthening out the
kinks in "reform" and capturing
the scalp of the offending Higgins,
but, 1 fear, he has met with little
encouragement.
The bond circular Of Secretary
Fairchild, while harmless Of itself,
may we'll be regarded as a storm
signal by the financial world.charge.
able to the unsound fiscal policy of
the Democracy in impotently per-
uniting the accumulation or the
vast Treasury surplus. In cOnsid.
erlng Mr.. Failchlld's action, and
the reasons he gives therefor, car
but conclude that the young Secre-
tary is a guileless financier who
has vet to cut his eye.teetb.
The Treasury Department reports
for the month of July decrease of
$6,66S,74S in cash on hand, and an
increase of S4,O47,133 in the circu-
Iatlon-uhe former being chiefly in
gold certificates and the latter in
standard silver dollars and certif-
Gates; there was a decrease in the
circulation of national bank.notes.
Another Treasury scandal is in
the aIr-something like the Harvey
affair-though efforts are being
made to cover it up by Controller
Durham, who denies it. To state
the matter briefly, it appears that
through the ignorance or negli.
gence of the Treasury officials a
big batch of California land sur
veying accounts that were paid
many years ago have been worked
over aud paid again. When inter
viewed upon the frauds, Commits.
sioner Sparks was decidedly non
committal and his manner was such
as to impress one with the truthful.
ness Of the charge. Full details
cannot now be given. 1t is no
secret that the Controller and the
Commissioner have long been at
logger.heads officially.
Bacon's bondsmen have notified
the Government that they are ready
to make good his alleged shortage
as soon as the amount is certified
to officially. About twenty patent
Attorneys of the District of Colum-
bia who borrowed $4,000 from the
late financial clerk and failed to re-
pay it, have been duly warned that
unless they refund the sum at once
it will be deemed a sufficient reason
to debar them from further practice
before the Interior Department.
There was a scion and a few
sprigs of royalty all the way from
Siam in the Capital a few days
since; they we're formally received
by the President, with the usual
interchange of commonplace cOur-
tesies incident to such an occasion.
The Prince, whose name dare not
write, for fear of the possible injury
it might infict upon the jaws of
my readers, was fayOrably Impress
ed and pronounced Washington a
more beautiful city than his own
Capital; he took among his sOuve.
Mrs some of the photographs OF
Mrs. Cleveland and chips from the
Washington Monument.
Murdered and Robbed,
WHEELING, w. Va, August 9.
The body OF Wallace Sayre, aged